Architectural educators, graduates and students are invited to critically reflect on what they regard as the most successful and/or influential design studio assignment within the first year of an architectural education. The project is inspired by (but has no relation to) ‘Draw It with Your Eyes Closed: the Art of the Art Assignment’ (New York, NY: Paper Monument, ISBN 9780979757549), in which eighty-nine artists and fine art tutors critically reflect upon their experiences of the fine art assignment as students or tutors.

Following this call for submissions, ‘build it with your eyes closed’ will run as an open workshop for the duration of Living and Learning, the 2nd international conference of the of the association of architectural educators (aae) at the University of Sheffield, England, 3-5 September 2014. Living and Learning explores the notion of ‘liveness’, not just as experienced through live projects, but expanded to consider different forms of community participation and civic engagement, material and constructed interventions. This conference offers a platform for critical reflection on the most recent wave of ‘live’ innovations in design studio teaching and beyond. The conference is centred on architecture education, but invites contributions from any disciplinary context which might offer insight and spark critical debate. To read more about the aae conference, review the draft schedule, and to register, visit: http://aaeconference2014.wordpress.com/

Submissions received in response to this call for submissions will be anonymised and posted for conference delegates to read, comment and respond to. ‘Build it with your eyes closed’ will make the process of blind peer review visible, tangible and social at the heart of the conference.

The contributions to ‘build it with your eyes closed’ will be developed for publication as a standalone book in 2015.

For more information about the project, please contact the editor, Dr. James Benedict Brown (Norwich University of the Arts, England) jamesbenedictbrown@yahoo.co.uk

ADDENDUM (7 August 2014) – In response to queries, submissions will be anonymised for peer review only. If invited to develop their submissions for publication, authors will be credited. JBB